“Write short note: Functional problems of the social system.” (1999)
Talcott Parsons held that any system of action, from a two-person group to a whole society, survives only if it solves four functional problems (also called functional prerequisites or imperatives): adaptation, goal attainment, integration and latency, remembered as AGIL.
Origins in small-group research
The scheme grew out of Robert F. Bales‘ laboratory studies at Harvard. In Interaction Process Analysis (1950), Bales coded every act in discussion groups into twelve categories, divided into a task area (information, opinion, suggestion) and a socio-emotional area (solidarity, antagonism, tension). Groups moved in phases, from orientation and evaluation to decision and control, then repaired the strain caused. Groups also tended to throw up two leaders, a task specialist and a socio-emotional specialist. In Working Papers in the Theory of Action (1953), Parsons, Bales and Edward Shils generalised these phases into the four functional problems of every system.
Two axes, four problems
Parsons cross-classified two distinctions:
- external / internal: does the activity deal with the environment or with relations among the system’s own units?
- instrumental / consummatory: does it deal with means or with achieving ends?
| Instrumental (means) | Consummatory (ends) | |
|---|---|---|
| External | A – Adaptation: gaining resources from the environment and allocating them | G – Goal attainment: setting goals and mobilising energy to reach them |
| Internal | L – Latency: pattern maintenance and tension management | I – Integration: coordinating units and securing solidarity |
At the level of society these problems are met by specialised sub-systems: the economy (A), the polity (G), the societal community of law and norms (I) and the fiduciary system of family, school and religion (L). They exchange money, power, influence and value commitments.
Illustration: a village dairy cooperative
- A: collects members’ milk, raises credit, arranges feed.
- G: its elected board fixes procurement prices and output targets.
- I: by-laws, general body meetings and dispute committees hold members of different castes and landholdings together.
- L: training and a shared ethic of cooperation sustain commitment.
The same grid fits a family. Earning meets A, decisions on children’s schooling meet G, care and emotional support meet I, and socialisation through rituals and festivals meets L. Parsons and Bales (Family, Socialization and Interaction Process, 1955) assigned the instrumental role to the husband and the expressive role to the wife.
Criticisms
- Teleology and circularity: a surviving system is assumed to have met its prerequisites, so the claim is hard to test.
- Reification: society is given needs of its own.
- Neglect of power: C. Wright Mills saw conflict and domination explained away.
- Gender bias: feminists such as Ann Oakley rejected the instrumental–expressive division as a naturalised sexual division of labour.
Conclusion
AGIL remains a useful checklist for any organisation, linking micro-group dynamics to the macro-structure of society. Its weakness is that it identifies what a system needs without explaining whose interests decide how those needs are met.